Regulators make funding pitch for FY 2019 budget

It is, once again, the time of the year when governmental factions argue for their slice of the new budget,

This week, President Trump sent Congress a $4.4 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2019. The lengthy document, full of big jumps in military spending and corresponding reductions in domestic programs is unlikely to survive in its final form as it works its way through Congress.

In the meantime, the heads of regulatory agencies are adding their own budget requests in the mix.

Priorities in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s $1.658 billion budget request for fiscal year 2019 include “expanded oversight and enforcement in emerging areas such as financial innovation, market structure and cybersecurity,” according to a statement by Chairman Jay Clayton.

The SEC’s funding is offset by matching collections of fees on securities transactions and is budget and deficit neutral.

The SEC’s budget request would support 4,628 positions and enable the agency to enhance its efforts in its key market-facing Divisions and Offices, including Enforcement; Compliance, Inspections and Examinations; Trading and Markets; Investment Management; and Corporation Finance, as well as expand cybersecurity capabilities, leverage technology, and better oversee evolving markets.

To keep up with the rapid pace of technology advancement in the areas the SEC regulates, the request seeks a $45 million increase in funding for information technology enhancements to support the agency’s cybersecurity capabilities, risk and data analysis, enforcement and examinations, and automation of business processes. The fiscal year 2019 budget request level is a 3.5 percent increase over the fiscal year 2018 budget request of $1.602 billion.

The full budget request is available online.

The SEC’s sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has released a $281.5 million budget request.

“While the Chairman’s budget request increases the agency’s Full Time Equivalent employees to 716, it is important to note that the agency’s FTE count has steadily decreased over the past three years due in part to flat funding,” Commissioner Brian Quintenz said in a statement. “In FY 2016, the agency had 714 FTEs, while in FY 2017 it had 689 FTEs and only 670 FTEs this year. From that perspective, the current request asks for roughly the same number of FTEs as three years ago.”

The budget request, he added, will help realize Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo’s vision for the agency: increased interfaces with fintech advancements, robust and timely examination processes for clearinghouses, and enhanced econometric analyses of rules, products, and markets, he added.